ABA Section of Business Law

The Section of Business Law of the ABA has been a champion of business
courts and specialized commercial litigation programs for more than a
decade. In the past 15 years, states have been creating new business courts
and specialized commercial litigation dockets at an accelerating pace.
Commercial litigators have seen how these business courts and specialized
dockets have greatly reduced litigation costs and case disposition times,
and significantly increased the predictability of court decisions and the
level of client satisfaction.

Nevertheless, almost every time a new business court or specialized docket
has been proposed, it has been met with opposition and wrongly labeled as
being "elitist" or unfairly favoring "big business."
These myths are easily debunked by the facts and the experiences of those
involved with any of the new business courts or specialized dockets. The
five articles in this mini-theme explore some of these facts and
experiences.

Lee Applebaum's article, The "New" Business Courts: Responding
to Modern Business and Commercial Disputes, presents an excellent
summary of his unprecedented research in this area. The History of
Delaware's Business Courts: Their Rise to Preeminence, written by Vice
Chancellor Donald F. Parsons Jr. of the Delaware Court of Chancery and the
Honorable Joseph R. Slights III of the Delaware Superior Court, focuses on
Delaware's remarkable expertise and innovations in handling commercial
litigation and disputes.

Of course, specialization is not unique to the state courts. Strangers
in a Strange Land: Specialized Courts Resolving Patent Disputes, by
Professor Lawrence M. Sung, Ph.D., touches upon specialized intellectual
property judicial systems throughout the world. The Untold Story of the
Bankruptcy Courts: A Positive Resource for Business, by Ronald S.
Gellert, demonstrates how our federal bankruptcy courts are some of the
most important business courts in the country. Finally, Professor Ralph
Peeples and Norwegian lawyer Hanne Nyheim have contributed Beyond the
Border: An International Perspective on Business Courts, in which they
demonstrate that the business court phenomenon is not limited to the United
States.

The success of business courts has been marked by the emergence of a
critical mass of business court judges. At this writing, the American
College of Business Court Judges is about to conduct its third annual
meeting in Washington, D.C. The National Conference of the State Trial
Judges, another ABA organization, has done much to address needed changes
in the court system, such as the establishment of business courts.